By Preston Squire
On our journey to success there will inevitably be a lot of stumbling blocks. Adversity is guaranteed, and is in fact, a necessary ingredient to success. Without adversity to overcome, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, (possibly physically too) there is little to no growth and without growth we cannot expect to accomplish more than we are at this moment.
However life can sometimes just kick you right in the balls. There will be times when success seems to be within reach only to be snatched away again. Or you could be at the top of your game, thinking everything is going smoothly, only to have your whole deck of cards collapse on you.
For myself this happened early on. I had recently discovered Anthony Robbin's Awaken the Giant Within, and was using it to great effect. I went from being an average sales person to the top sales person in the company I was working at. I developed a sales technique so successful they had me teach it to the entire division. I was married to a beautiful woman I loved very much. Just had my second child, a beautiful baby girl. I was being prepped for a promotion. I had also started a writting career and had just finished my first published project. Everything was wonderful. I was charged!
Then my wife left me. I don't blame her, but at the time it was a low blow to the balls. It caught me completely off-guard. I hadn't seen any signs, I didn't know how to react. I went from being on top of the world to sinking into the depth of dispair. Not only did my personal life suffer, but my proffessional life as well. My sales numbers plummeted with my attitude. I was passed over for promotion and eventually moved off that program. I lost my lust for life and blamed God for the injustices.
More recently, my friend and web guru who has been working from sporatic contract to contract finally landed a major deal, a six month contract with a major financial institution. Assured he would be given the position he passed over a permanent position elsewhere that was offered just days later. Then disaster. The contract fell through and permanent position was otherwise filled, leaving him with nothing.
He was feeling pretty frustrated and irate at life, like his best days were now behind him when he e-mailed me to tell me about it.
I gave him these three P's I'm about to share with you as they were top of mind, based on recent readings (I'm always studying success) and appropriate to the situation. These types of disasters befall all of us from Donald Trump to Anthony Robbins to you and I. No one is exempt. When they happen we tend to ask 'Why me?' Well, why not you? Who are you to be exempted? Welcome to the club. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start looking for how you can use this to your advantage. That's easier said than done, granted. And sometimes the only thing to gain is the lessons learned. But those lessons are the most important ones. We learn little from success, we learn a lot from our mistakes. But unless we learn from them, unless we find the seed of opportunity, we cannot grow.
At these times it's often hard to see how they could ever benefit our lives. Often it's only with the passing of time that we can look back and confidently say, 'Thank God that happened to me! If that hadn't happened I never would have..." So while you're in the midsts of recovering from the a low blow, remember these P's.
Now that's easy advice to give but I'll be honest. This is one 'P' that I personally struggle with the most. And I have messed myself up more than once by not exercising it. God grant me a lot of great attributes but the kind of patience to patiently wait while nothing seems to be happening isn't one of them. I'm the type of guy who would rather walk for 20 minutes than wait 10 for a bus. Not because I want the exercise (although that's a nice way to justify it) but because I need to see progress.
I'm in a great relationship now with a truly fantastic woman but already I'm struggling with this P. She just got out of a marriage with a guy who showed terrific promise but proved to be all smoke and mirrors once they actually got hitched. It was a disaster. She's understandably slow, and in no rush, to trust and really allow herself to love someone else now. I know I'm the real deal and one hundred percent confident she will see that too but I have to keep reeling myself in and asking God for grace and patience because I can't see progress in the relationship most of the time. I want to push things and while she may need some slight prodding and encouragement, pushing the matter will ultimately only drive her away. I learned that the hard way with my last love. By being patient and knowing, accepting and being grateful for that I have already recieved, I'm continually surprised and blessed by her.
Same thing when it comes to job hunting or waiting for a promotion. Often we get frustrated or discouraged and want to either push things forward or give up. Patience, patience. Good things come to those who wait. I'm not saying to sit idle waiting for something to happen but do stick with your plan, and then let go and let God. Even when everything seems to be going wrong, like it is for my friend right now, triumph can be just around the corner. Have faith, remain confident, learn from your mistakes and always stay focused on the end result you want, never on the current results that you don't want.
UPDATE: Just wanted to note that my friend ended up getting the best job of his life soon after this was written. The highest pay and the least amount of stress, but before he could be ready to recieve, he needed to turn his 'poor me' attitude around. Fortunately he was and was blessed for his continued optomism.
On our journey to success there will inevitably be a lot of stumbling blocks. Adversity is guaranteed, and is in fact, a necessary ingredient to success. Without adversity to overcome, mentally, spiritually and emotionally, (possibly physically too) there is little to no growth and without growth we cannot expect to accomplish more than we are at this moment.
However life can sometimes just kick you right in the balls. There will be times when success seems to be within reach only to be snatched away again. Or you could be at the top of your game, thinking everything is going smoothly, only to have your whole deck of cards collapse on you.
For myself this happened early on. I had recently discovered Anthony Robbin's Awaken the Giant Within, and was using it to great effect. I went from being an average sales person to the top sales person in the company I was working at. I developed a sales technique so successful they had me teach it to the entire division. I was married to a beautiful woman I loved very much. Just had my second child, a beautiful baby girl. I was being prepped for a promotion. I had also started a writting career and had just finished my first published project. Everything was wonderful. I was charged!
Then my wife left me. I don't blame her, but at the time it was a low blow to the balls. It caught me completely off-guard. I hadn't seen any signs, I didn't know how to react. I went from being on top of the world to sinking into the depth of dispair. Not only did my personal life suffer, but my proffessional life as well. My sales numbers plummeted with my attitude. I was passed over for promotion and eventually moved off that program. I lost my lust for life and blamed God for the injustices.
More recently, my friend and web guru who has been working from sporatic contract to contract finally landed a major deal, a six month contract with a major financial institution. Assured he would be given the position he passed over a permanent position elsewhere that was offered just days later. Then disaster. The contract fell through and permanent position was otherwise filled, leaving him with nothing.
He was feeling pretty frustrated and irate at life, like his best days were now behind him when he e-mailed me to tell me about it.
I gave him these three P's I'm about to share with you as they were top of mind, based on recent readings (I'm always studying success) and appropriate to the situation. These types of disasters befall all of us from Donald Trump to Anthony Robbins to you and I. No one is exempt. When they happen we tend to ask 'Why me?' Well, why not you? Who are you to be exempted? Welcome to the club. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start looking for how you can use this to your advantage. That's easier said than done, granted. And sometimes the only thing to gain is the lessons learned. But those lessons are the most important ones. We learn little from success, we learn a lot from our mistakes. But unless we learn from them, unless we find the seed of opportunity, we cannot grow.
At these times it's often hard to see how they could ever benefit our lives. Often it's only with the passing of time that we can look back and confidently say, 'Thank God that happened to me! If that hadn't happened I never would have..." So while you're in the midsts of recovering from the a low blow, remember these P's.
The Eleven Power P's of Enduring Success
Patience
Just accept it. God does not work according to our schedule. But God's delays are not God's denials either. Any success guru will advise you to set a date for when you want to complete your goal. That's absolutely necessary. Without one you're prone to procrastinate. However what do you do when you get to that date and the goal hasn't reach fruitation? Set another date and keep going!Now that's easy advice to give but I'll be honest. This is one 'P' that I personally struggle with the most. And I have messed myself up more than once by not exercising it. God grant me a lot of great attributes but the kind of patience to patiently wait while nothing seems to be happening isn't one of them. I'm the type of guy who would rather walk for 20 minutes than wait 10 for a bus. Not because I want the exercise (although that's a nice way to justify it) but because I need to see progress.
I'm in a great relationship now with a truly fantastic woman but already I'm struggling with this P. She just got out of a marriage with a guy who showed terrific promise but proved to be all smoke and mirrors once they actually got hitched. It was a disaster. She's understandably slow, and in no rush, to trust and really allow herself to love someone else now. I know I'm the real deal and one hundred percent confident she will see that too but I have to keep reeling myself in and asking God for grace and patience because I can't see progress in the relationship most of the time. I want to push things and while she may need some slight prodding and encouragement, pushing the matter will ultimately only drive her away. I learned that the hard way with my last love. By being patient and knowing, accepting and being grateful for that I have already recieved, I'm continually surprised and blessed by her.
Same thing when it comes to job hunting or waiting for a promotion. Often we get frustrated or discouraged and want to either push things forward or give up. Patience, patience. Good things come to those who wait. I'm not saying to sit idle waiting for something to happen but do stick with your plan, and then let go and let God. Even when everything seems to be going wrong, like it is for my friend right now, triumph can be just around the corner. Have faith, remain confident, learn from your mistakes and always stay focused on the end result you want, never on the current results that you don't want.
UPDATE: Just wanted to note that my friend ended up getting the best job of his life soon after this was written. The highest pay and the least amount of stress, but before he could be ready to recieve, he needed to turn his 'poor me' attitude around. Fortunately he was and was blessed for his continued optomism.
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